Shelly Breen, centre, 49, of River Ryan, holds the book ‘100 moms 1000 tips 1 Million Reasons’ by author Doreen Coady formerly of Sydney and now of Elmsdale, which she’s featured in, while gathered with three of her children, from the left, Trent, 23, Nicholas, 20, and Kendall 25. - Sharon Montgomery-Dupe

SYDNEY, N.S. —

If you are looking for parenting advice, 100 moms are ready to help, with many of their tips having a Cape Breton touch.

Doreen Coady, formerly of Sydney and now of Elmsdale, N.S., has published her first book “100 moms 1,000 tips 1 million reasons.”

The book is available on Amazon and will be in Chapters/Indigo outlets in March.

“Some people say it takes a village to raise a child but not everyone has that,” she said. “I wanted to give people that village through access to other moms.”

Coady said her book includes every stage of parenting.

Shauna Williams, left, 42, formerly of Sydney and now of Halifax, looks over the book “100 Moms 1000 tips 1 Million Reasons” by author Doreen Coady, formerly of Sydney and now of Elmsdale. Williams, one of the 100 moms featured in the book offering parenting tips, describes herself as “a self-proclaimed crazy cheer mom.”

“I like to say it’s prenatal to empty nest,” she said. “They cover that whole range.”

Coady was born and raised in Sydney, lived in Calgary for a few years before moving back to North Sydney in the early 2000s when her husband, Mike Coady, went back to school. On Feb. 16, 2008, her son Michael was in a snowboarding accident.

“He was 16 and able-bodied and then all of a sudden he was a quadriplegic and couldn’t move from the neck down.”

After the accident, she said Michael continued to do really well.

“He was super ambitious. He was volunteering, he was working and making straight A's in school.”

Michael married his high school sweetheart and they recently had a baby. Coady said her son graduates from law school this year and is working for Stewart McKelvey law firm.

Along the way, many people were impressed with him and would ask Coady how she raised such great kid.

“The fact that he had goals, continued to fulfill his goals and was always such a respectful sweet kid,” is what she tells them.

Coady wanted to share her story but then thought with all the great moms out there dealing with various needs and issues, it would be a better project to get other moms to contribute. Her plan was to find 10 moms to each come up with 10 parenting tips.

“Then the idea just came to me, what if I got 100 moms and they all gave me their top 10 tips? I could have 1,000 parenting tips.”

Coady started with searching out old friends and former classmates, then looking to some moms in parenting groups on Facebook, at a single mom’s project in Halifax and even a seniors complex.

“My oldest mom is 88 and my youngest is 17,” she said.

She also discovered 30 of the moms were from Cape Breton.

“Some of them have moved away, (but) most of them are still there.”

Coady’s first call when searching out moms was to Shelly Breen of River Ryan.

The book “100 Moms 1000 tips 1 Million Reasons.”

“When I decided to do the book she was the very first mom on my list.”

Coady knew Breen well, having graduated from Holy Angels with her and following her on Facebook.

She noticed Breen had four children of varying ages.

“She had her older kids but then had a baby. I always really admired her as a mom for doing it twice.

“She’s so attentive and so involved with her kids; I wanted to get her tips.”

Breen thought the book was an amazing idea.

“What she wanted to have in the book was the views and ideas of parents as everyone is different. I think she did an amazing job.”

Breen said when Coady asked her for 10 tips she thought she’d pick a few from them.

“She not only put them all in, but exactly as they were worded.”

Breen has four children, including Kendall, 25, Trent, 23, Nicholas, 20, and had an 11-year gap until her fourth, Michell, 10.

One tip Breen included was, “Love, love love — I can’t stress this enough. I tell the kids daily, more than you can imagine, I love them, they always tell me back.”

Another tip was “Be their friend.”

“Most say you can’t be this, I say ‘bulls--t.’ Tell me about your friends. Do you get along great, laugh, cry, get pissed with each other? Do you yell, scream, ignore each other? Parenting is the same thing. You just have to have limits.”

Breen also added some humour to parenting.

When she received a copy of the book, she told her kids she included a special tip.

Her son Trent said, “Oh no, you didn’t put the noodle one in there did you?”

Breen did.

Breen said one day when the kids were younger they were having chicken noodle soup for supper but Trent didn’t like it.

“I said, ‘Whoever eats it first gets a surprise.’ Well they couldn’t eat it fast enough,” she said.

The surprise turned out to be as her kids still describe it, ‘a frigging hug and kiss.’

“They warn Michell now, ‘Don't ever fall for anything mom says; if she says if you eat something you’ll get a surprise, you’re not getting anything,” Breen said laughing.